New Horizons Enters ‘Pluto-Space!’ To Celebrate, Here Are Pictures Of The Dwarf Planet

After almost nine years on the road, New Horizons is in what NASA calls “Pluto-space”! Earlier today (July 7), the spacecraft Twitter account announced New Horizons is now 29.8 Earth-sun distances (astronomical units) away from the Sun, putting it within the boundaries of Pluto’s eccentric orbit — exciting, since Pluto is the primary science target.

“Didn’t get the word? We’re farther out than Pluto’s minimum distance to the Sun. We’re in ‘Pluto-space’ now!” tweeted the New Horizons account. We’ve included some of the best Pluto pictures below, to date, to celebrate.

And while many are focused on the Pluto encounter itself, NASA is already planning for what to do next for the spacecraft. In mid-June, we reported that the Hubble Space Telescope was doing a test search for icy Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons could possibly fly to next.

That test search was successful enough, with two objects found, that Hubble is now doing a full-blown investigation, according to an announcement last week. Hubble will begin that work in July and conclude observations in August. New Horizons is expected to fly by Pluto and its moons in July 2015.

Pluto’s surface as viewed from the Hubble Space Telescope in several pictures taken in 2002 and 2003. Though the telescope is a powerful tool, the dwarf planet is so small that it is difficult to resolve its surface. Astronomers noted a bright spot (180 degrees) with an unusual abundance of carbon monoxide frost. Credit: NASAPluto and its moons, most of which were discovered while New Horizons was in development and en route. Charon was found in 1978, Nix and Hydra in 2005, Kerberos in 2011 and Styx in 2012. The New Horizons mission launched in 2006. Picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASAPluto and moons Charon, Hydra and Nix (left) compared to the dwarf planet Eris and its moon Dysnomia (right). This picture was taken before Kerberos and Styx were discovered in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Credit: International Astronomical UnionPluto appears as a faint white dot (see arrow) in this image taken by New Horizons in September 2006, nine months after launch. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research InstitutePluto and Charon are visible in this 2013 image from New Horizons’ LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). It was the first image from the spacecraft showing Charon separated from Pluto. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

It IS a planet, at least according to the equally legitimate geophysical planet definition, which does not require an object to clear its orbit to be a planet. This definition is the one supported by New Horizons Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern and many members of the mission team. In fact, Stern is the person who first coined the term “dwarf planet,” but he intended it to refer to a third class of planets in addition to terrestrials and jovians, not to refer to non-planets. Pluto is both a planet and a KBO. The first tells us what it is; the second tells us where it is. They are not mutually exclusive.

So exciting. And very glad effort was made back in the last decade to make this mission a reality. It will be quite the flyby. Also, New Horizon’s message in a bottle initiative will be part of the post-Pluto phase thanks to many signatures secured over the past year from around the world. Kudos to Jon Lomberg.

I think it is great that I finally get to see an image from 2013, but shouldn’t we be seeing one if not some image(s) from 2014 by now? It would be nice if we could at least get one image per month until New Horizons reaches Pluto, since this is the 1st time we are going there (Pluto that is) specifically. It’s not just science, but an historical mission besides………..